This is the scene that explains the title, and romance isn’t part of the plan. She walks backward into the dark, the man keeps following, and the floor quietly stops being a floor.
What happens in the void
The alien’s routine is simple. She picks up solitary men in her van, brings them to a dilapidated house and leads them into a black room, where they undress and follow her until they’re submerged in a liquid abyss. It’s a trap, and Glazer shoots it like one: cold, slow and hypnotic, set to Mica Levi’s viola-heavy score.
Around the 58-minute mark she makes the walk fully nude, and the man following her is Adam Pearson’s character. Writers on the film treat this encounter as the film’s turning point, the moment she starts to feel something like empathy. Pearson, who has neurofibromatosis, got the part after Glazer refused prosthetics, and his suggestions about how she might lure his character went into the script.
The room itself was practical magic: a set with a reflective floor, blackout and custom lighting, plus a pool whose floor sank as the men walked, finished with computer graphics. Many of the van pickups used hidden cameras and real men, who were told afterward and asked for permission. Johansson called it “this bizarre candid camera situation,” with Glazer talking to her through an earpiece.
It’s second in the full Scarlett Johansson rundown. To see where the character begins, go back to the white-room opening.
Film: Under the Skin (2013) · Venice world premiere, September 3, 2013; UK (StudioCanal) March 14, 2014; U.S. (A24) April 4, 2014 · directed by Jonathan Glazer · Scarlett Johansson as the Female, Adam Pearson as the Deformed Man
All Scarlett Johansson scenes
1Mirror Scene Under the Skin (2013)- 2Now watchingVoid Walk Under the Skin (2013)
- 3Opening Under the Skin (2013)
- 4The Slip A Good Woman (2004)
- 5Rain Scene (no nudity) Match Point (2005)
- 6Darkroom Kiss (no nudity) Vicky Cristina Barcelona (2008)
Back to the hub: Scarlett Johansson nude: every scene, ranked.